[cognisent]

One thing I don't understand is what does _* mean? It seems like the paper refers to .* (which I understand) and _* (which I don't) in sometimes the same context? Normally _* would mean "an underscore zero or more times".

[shmolyneaux]

That's noted further down the page:

- `_*` = any string

[cognisent]

I guess _ is trying to be like, "No, really, anything," while . has some limitations?

[viega]

.* does NOT match newlines, so always will stop a match at the end of a line.